CHAPTER 24
I t felt right. Driving along the windy, hilly roads around Landon with Kennedy by his side felt right. From the moment he’d picked her up at the Inn on Briar Creek, Matt had felt like something new and perfectly right was blossoming between them.
Kennedy had met him in the lobby, looking adorable in a long, printed skirt and a crisp, short-sleeved white cotton shirt that she’d tied at the waist. Brown leather sandals were on her feet, and her glorious dark-auburn hair was tied back in a loose ponytail.
As they stood there, he couldn’t stop looking at her. Kennedy looked fresh and sweet and happy.
He loved that she looked so happy.
“What?” She smoothed a piece of hair off her cheek. “Do I have a bug on me or something?”
“Not at all. You look gorgeous,” he said.
Her expression eased. “Gorgeous is a bit much, but I’ll take pretty.”
“Pretty it is.” Though, in his opinion, she did look gorgeous. No other word for it.
“You look pretty handsome yourself.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes.” She waved a hand over his body. “I’ve never seen any man rock a pair of rumpled khakis, button-down, and loafers the way you do.”
He laughed. “Since it’s obvious that I never ‘rocked’ anything in my life before, I’ll take that. Ready to go for a ride?”
When she’d nodded, he’d reached for her hand and led her outside. Though she wasn’t petite, he still helped her into his SUV, if only to have an excuse to touch her.
“Where are we going first?”
“First, I thought I’d take you to Mary Lapp’s Farm and Café.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s an Amish farm that has the best lunches around. She also happens to have a barn filled with animals, including baby pigs, goats, donkeys, sheep, and probably an assorted rabbit or horse.”
“She has lambs?” she whispered.
“She does. Fuzzy white and black ones.”
“Do you think . . . I mean, are you allowed to touch them?”
“Absolutely.”
Her smile could have lit up the night, it was so bright. “Matt Schrock, have I told you how much I like you?”
“Not lately,” he said in a laugh. “You’re a fan of sheep, hmm?”
“Of course. Well, of lambs.” Looking almost hesitant, she said, “What about you? Do you like lambs?”
He bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn’t laugh. She honestly looked like she might get out of his vehicle if he said that he enjoyed eating leg of lamb every now and then. “I don’t know if it’s possible to not be a fan of lambs.”
When they pulled into the parking lot, Kennedy practically bounded out of the vehicle. He reached for her hand, linking their fingers and taking her to the entrance. An Amish woman about their age looked up from the papers she was sorting.
“Tickets?” she asked.
“ Jah. Zwee ,” he said, holding up two fingers.
Kennedy looked at him in surprise. “You know Deutsch?”
“I do. I was raised Deutsch.” He continued in Pennsylvania Dutch.
“You weren’t raised around here, were ya?” the woman asked Kennedy in English.
“Nope. I’m a city girl, through and through. I like it here, though. It’s beautiful.”
Looking out at the surrounding fields, the Amish woman nodded. “It is at that. Now, what may I help ya with?”
“I’m hoping to see the lambs. Do you have any today?”
Matt felt his insides melt a bit. He knew a lot of people in his line of work. Some of them were so jaded that only something outlandish or outrageously expensive pricked their interest. But here was Kennedy only eager to see a baby lamb.
After the woman glanced his way, her eyes warmed. “You’re going to have a good time, I reckon. We’ve got lambs to spare.” After taking his money for the entrance fee, she gestured toward the barn door. “Go on inside and enjoy yourselves.”
“ Danke ,” he said, then motioned Kennedy toward the barn. She led the way. And stopped in her tracks when they entered the dark space that was easily ten degrees cooler.
The barn was also very . . . barnlike. It was dusty and smelled like farm animals. He found it comforting, but then again, he’d spent a lot of time inside an Amish barn. It was the opposite of pristine and new.
In addition, straw and dirt covered the floor and animals wandered all around. Some of them even had splotches of mud or dirt stuck to their fur. It would be difficult to stay clean when one was next to all the animals.
“Wow,” said Kennedy.
Some of the cozy, happy feelings he’d been experiencing evaporated. “I know it’s smelly and dirty in here. Would you like to leave?”
“No.”
She still didn’t look certain. “Are you sure?”
“Can I help ya?” an Amish man called out, his long gray beard testament to his age and experience.
Before Matt could answer, Kennedy treated the man to a bright smile. “I’m looking for the lambs.”
“Ah, then you came to the right place. Come along now.” He turned and started walking, his uneven gait a little slow but steady.
Kennedy glanced back at Matt, smiled again, and set off toward a pen in the back of the barn.
Deciding to hang back for a moment, he slowed his pace. It was just too fun to watch Kennedy gaze around the barn with wonder. She really was like a kid at Disneyland.
Even from his spot behind them, he could easily locate the lambs. When one of them bleated, scampering on wobbly legs, Kennedy gasped. “Oh, look at them!”
“They’re right cute, ain’t so?” the older man asked.
“Oh yes.” Turning, she said, “Matt, have you ever seen anything so sweet?”
When he got closer, he saw that she hadn’t been wrong. There had to be eight or nine white lambs moving about in the area. A couple of ewes were laying on the straw toward the back, no doubt chewing their cud while their offspring gazed at Kennedy with as much interest as she was showing them.
She stood against the wooden fence. “May I touch them?” she asked the gentleman.
“Oh, jah . You may, but I reckon they’d rather eat some carrots.” He dug into a pocket and pulled out a paper sack of carrot rounds. “Here ya go.”
Kennedy, still looking as eager as ever, took the carrots and held one out to the bravest lamb of the lot. It ate it eagerly, then eyed her right hand as her left reached out to rub its head.
When the lamb’s little ears wiggled with pleasure, Kennedy cooed.
“Oh, my word. Have you ever seen anything more precious?” she asked the farmer.
“Only the lamb standing next to him,” he joked.
Kennedy’s cheeks turned pink. “I guess I’m being silly. But Matt . . . aren’t they cute?”
He shared a smile with the farmer. “Indeed. They are cute and perfect.”
“She’s a good ’un,” the farmer said over his shoulder.
Matt completely agreed. Walking to her side, he reached out and gently rubbed a lamb’s nose. “Lambs are surely one of the Lord’s pride and joy.”
“Do you mind if I stay here a minute?”
“I wouldn’t have brought you here if I didn’t want you to enjoy them. I’ll go buy us some carrots. You stay here.”
“Thanks.”
“No thanks needed. Take as much time as you need.”
And that was all Kennedy had needed to hear. She started talking animatedly with the farmer, fed the now eager lambs loads of carrot chips, and petted as many as she could reach.
Ten minutes went by. Then twenty. Only when a family entered did the farmer leave, and Kennedy looked Matt’s way.
“Thanks, Matt. This was so much fun.”
Leaning down to pat one of the lambs lingering nearby, obviously hoping for another piece of carrot, he smiled at her. “It was.”
“Where do you want to go now?”
“Well, after we eat, I have another surprise for you.”
“What’s that?” Her smile brightened. “Please tell me we’re going to get to hold a piglet.”
“No piglet today, but I’ll try to find you one tomorrow,” he added as they headed toward the parking lot. “After we go to a favorite deli of mine, I’d like to take you to my parents’ house.”
Her eyes widened. “You want to introduce me to your parents?”
He nodded. Tucked his hands into his pockets so she wouldn’t see how completely nervous he was. “And my son.”
“Which one?”
“Jonny. My youngest.”
“Oh, wow.”
He studied her expression. She didn’t look upset, but she did look taken aback. Matt wondered why. When he’d mentioned that he’d liked to introduce his family to her, she’d seemed fine with that.
But maybe it was too soon?
Or had he taken all their conversations the wrong way? Had he imagined there was something more in between them than there actually was?
It was his usual way to ignore the sense of unease. Pretend it didn’t exist. Tell himself that if he didn’t bring up something unpleasant, it could be swept under the rug like a piece of bark or blade of grass tracked in by mistake from the outside.
But he’d learned the hard way that didn’t solve anything. He and Helen had gotten divorced because there were so many subjects neither wanted to discuss. They’d drifted so far apart that by the time lawyers were involved, they’d practically been strangers.
Then he’d inadvertently hurt his children by keeping too many of his feelings to himself—and worse, expecting them to do the same thing.
No matter how much he would pretend something didn’t exist, it was still there, just out of sight. And, like a snag in a finely woven rug, it would create a flaw that hadn’t been there before.
And . . . maybe the only person being fooled was himself.
He liked to think he’d finally gotten smarter. “Kennedy, are you upset about that idea?”
She turned her head, her eyes wide and her lips slightly parted. “Why do you ask that?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “No, I mean, I do know. It feels like there’s new tension between us that wasn’t there before.”
She pulled in her bottom lip. Seemed to bite down on it before answering. “I guess that’s fair.”
“Okay . . . ?”
“I’m nervous.”
“I understand, but there’s nothing to worry about. I promise, just because someone is Amish—”
“No, Matt. It has nothing to do with them being Amish. It’s because they’re your family. What if they don’t like me?”
He stopped himself from laughing in the nick of time. “They’ll like you.”
“You can’t know that.”
“Sure, I can. I know you and I know them. All of you are going to get along fine.”
“Hopefully.”
“For sure and for certain.”
When her lips curved up at last, he reached for her hand and squeezed gently. “We won’t stay too long. My mother is going to make dessert. We’ll visit with them for a little bit and have a piece of cake or pie, then move on. We’ll be there an hour and a half, tops.”
“All right.”
“I promise, I wouldn’t knowingly put you in a position where I know you’d be uncomfortable or upset. Plus, you’re going to love my parents. Everyone does. They’re good people.” Thinking about Jonny, he smiled. “And my youngest is easygoing. He’s kind, too.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Thank you, Kennedy.”
She nodded again, but only looked out the window.
As he turned on the ignition and got a quick bite, he hoped he wasn’t about to make a huge mistake.
While it was true that Jonny and his parents were good people and kind, it was also true that he wasn’t exactly the top person on any of their lists.
Honestly, they’d probably wonder what a woman like Kennedy was doing with him.
If that was the case, then at least they’d all be on the same page. He kept wondering that, too.